his plan will break our addiction to foreign oil and encourage renewable energy. as he said last night, it will be done without adding any money to the deficit, not a single penny -- as he said, "a dime." these investments in a strong middle class are not just right for the country; they're right for our economy swvment but our efforts to restore prosperity will mean little unless congress acts immediately to deal with arbitrary across-the-board spending cuts set to take effect next month. if the looming sequester strikes, 70,000 young children would be kicked off head start, 10,000 teacher jobs will be at risk and the small business administration will be forced to reduce loans to small business loans by up to $540 million. democrats believe we should use a balanced approach that targets wasteful spending and tax loopholes and ask the wealthiest among us to contribute a little more to reduce the deficit. the american people know we can't cut our way to prosperity. they agree. we can't ask the middle class to bear the burden of the entire deficit reduction. later